Tucson ties record for warmest year

Despite several gully washers during the rainy season, Tucson received only 7.66 inches of rainfall this year, which is one reason for the heat.

Tucson finished 2012 by tying the mark for its warmest year on record.

The average temperature for the entire calendar year of 2012 was 71.4 degrees, the National Weather Service reports. That’s precisely the same average temperature for the year recorded in 1989 — which was the warmest year on record in Tucson.

The record of 71.4 degrees is two degrees above the average annual temperature for the period from 1981 to 2010.